PIONEER VALLEY LEAGUE FOOTBALL - COLFAX AT BEAR RIVER - ARIAL ATTACK VS GROUND AND POUND

At 7:30 on Friday night Bear River High School's varsity football team will play host to Colfax and its record setting quarterback Michael Wilson who threw for 7 touchdowns this past Friday night. Both the Bruins and the Falcons will strap on their helmets under the lights with 5-0 records for their first Pioneer Valley League contest.

The two teams play very different styles of football. The Bruins play hard nosed smash mouth football behind senior fullback Brad Botsford (5-feet-11 and 180 lbs). Botsford leads the PVL in scoring by a running-back with over 14 points per game. On the defensive side of the ball the Bruins are led by junior linebacker John Voter III who is ranked 9th in the PVL in tackles, averaging just under 6 per game. Voter is ranked 2nd in the league with two interceptions, both of which resulted in touchdowns.

The Falcons are a West-coast style offensive team where they throw the ball a lot. Wilson (5-feet-11, 170 lbs) has thrown the ball 156 times which has resulted in 19 touchdowns, while running the ball 104 times for only 3 TDs.

Bear River's opponents have overall records of 9-19 while Colfax's opponents hold an overall record of 7-19. Both teams did defeated Union Mine (BR 26-7), (C 49-7) as well as Woodland (BR 35-7), (C 30-0) in the preseason action. As you can see both teams have the same win-loss record, their opponents have similar overall records and they both defeated the same opponents with which resulted in similar scores.

The Bruins were tested this past weekend by Eureka High School in their come from behind 27-23. Eureka threw for 177 yards with 2 TDs while rushing for 124 yards and 1 TD. The Bruins will need to play strong pass defense against the pass happy Falcons or it could be a high scoring affair.

Colfax had a close game when they played Argonaut giving up 20 points in week 1. In that contest the Falcons gave up 352 yards on the ground and only 52 threw the air. The Falcons will need to find a way to stop Bear River's running game as they have scored 17 touchdowns by running the ball, (12 by Botsford) and only 6 by way of the aerial attack.

What often happens in high school football is, if a team is a good offensive running team (Bear River) then their defense practices against the run and has better skill sets come game day. While it also works the other way. If you have a prolific passing team (Colfax) your defense can be run on.

Statistically both team's offenses are capable of taking control of the game but it is the defenses that will be tested on Friday night. Bear River will look to run the clock with its running game. This strategy would keep Wilson off the field which would result in a lower scoring game while Colfax will attempt to get the Bruins involved in a track meet.

The team with the fewest penalties wins the game.

BEAR RIVER REC. AND PARKS - FALL BREAK CAMPS - FLAG FOOTBALL - BASKETBALL SIGN UPS

Bear River Rec. and Parks District is offering Fall Break sports and camps to school aged children. If you are looking for something fun and safe for your kids to do this coming week then check out BRRPD's offerings. They are asking for you to pre register in advance. The Registration Form, Waiver & Release and Emergency Contact information is currently available on their website: www.brrpd.org

Schedule

Fall Break Camp Cottage Hill - costumes, crafts, sports and activities - all school ages welcome!

Morning Tennis Camps - with USPTA1Instructor Rich Gans, ages 5-9 and 10 and up.

Fall Break Soccer with Coach Ben - for players in grades 4-5-6 and 7-8-9.

LEGOtm Engineering Camps - ages 5 and UP!

And new, Water Polo Camp at BRHS Pool for grades 3 and up with Coach Daryn.

Also

Registrations also being accepted now for Fall Flag Football League and Winter Youth Basketball League.

GRASS VALLEY RECREATION FORMING VOLLEYBALL TEAMS AND TAKING BASKETBALL SIGN UPS

Over the next week Grass Valley Recreation will be processing the girls volleyball registration forms which were due Oct. 1, assigning teams and contacting coaches.Players will hear from coaches on placement and practice time within the next two weeks. Practices begin the week after returning from Fall Break.

Basketball registration for the 2014 league is now open for boys and girls grades 1 through 8. You can download a registration form by visiting their website and clicking on the "registration form" tab at the top of the page. Registration deadline for basketball is December 1.

MAGNOLIA 7TH GRADE WEIMAR - TOURNAMENT PENDING

Magnolia's 7th grade girls baseball team avenged their early season loss on Monday as they dominated the Weimar Warriors on their home court by a score of 39-21. The Lady Rattlers jumped out to 19-6 halftime lead by playing a hard nosed man to man half court defense at one end of the court as well as very strong ball handling at the offensive end. The only area where Weimar dominated was on the glass. The Warriors were much taller but they failed to hit the put back as well as shoot foul shots when given the opportunity.

Weimar deployed a 1-2-2 full court press which was no match for Magnolia's starting point guard. She dribbles well with both hands as well as find the open player when double teamed.

The Warriors did execute a few set offensive plays while the Lady Rattlers were a bit more freelance. It looked as if Weimar may have been more skilled but thing that set these two teams on different paths was desire and aggressiveness. If there was a loose ball there were multiple green shirts on the ground fighting for it and there were a couple of times they were fighting each other.

The 2013 season ending basketball tournament will tip off at 4:30 on Oct. 8 at school sites ( *higher seed will be the home team) with the semifinal and finals being held at Bear River High School on Oct. 9th and 10th. 

*Seeding will be determined at 7 pm on October 3rd.

BEAR RIVER LITTLE LEAGUE - MAJOR FALL BASEBALL SCHEDULE

Bear River Fall Ball Schedule

MAJORS

1. Tuesday, September 24, Bear River vs. Nevada City @ NC 5:30
2. Saturday, September 28, Bear River vs. Forest Hill @ FH 4:30
3. Tuesday, October 1, Bear River vs. Nevada City @ BR 5:30
4. Thursday, October 3, Bear River vs. Grass Valley @ GV 5:30
5. Saturday, October 5, Bear River vs. Sierra Foothills @ Colfax 5:00
6. Tuesday, October 8, Bear River vs. Nevada City @ BR 5:30
7. Thursday, October 10, Bear River vs. Grass Valley @ BR 5:30
8. Saturday, October 12, Bear River vs. Forest Hill @ BR 7:00
9. October 13-20 is fall break, no baseball scheduled
10. October 21-26 Major Fall Ball tournament – times and dates T.B.A.. We will host and travel this week, the particulars are being worked out.
11. Tuesday, October 29, Bear River vs. Nevada City @NC 5:30
12. Friday, November 1, Bear River vs. Sierra Foothills @ BR 5:30

BEAR RIVER JUNIOR BRUINS FOOTBALL - ANTELOPE

It was a Big Day for the Bear River Junior Bruins football program when they hosted and swept the Antelope Titans at all levels. This is the first time in many years that the BRJB organization has won at all levels.

I attended the final two games of the day. In game one it was the Junior Midget Division. The better conditioned, smaller and quicker team earned the 20-6 win. The JM team was led by Daniel Tandem who scored from 16 yards out to take the lead in the first quarter. Calder Kunde scored from the 10. Austin Slinning had the longest run of the day which was good for 69 yards. Antelope scored with 20 seconds to play in the game.

In game two it was quarterback Clay Corripo who led the aerial attach along with a host of running backs. They can run as well as any junior team I have seen. The combination of size and speed in the back field makes the passing game that much easier. This is a run first team, but when Corripo does drop back to pass he looks at ease as he passed to his primary target Justin Kilgore who is one of the teams best receivers.

MAGNOLIA 8TH GRADE HOOPS - OVER WEIMAR

The Magnolia Lady Rattlers 8th grade basketball team finished off the first half of the Nevada County Athletic League's regular season play with a 35-11 win over the Weimar Warriors. Katelyn Meylor led all scorers with 10 points and again played tough defense. Kayla Toft scored 6 and also provided a significant defensive presence.

Bella Batula and Annie Kollehner knocked down 4 points apiece with some nice shooting. While rebounding was led by Karinne McDonald, Mallory Rath, and Meylor. The Rattlers move to 5-1 on the season.